Throw a useful error when tailwindcss is used as a PostCSS plugin (#14378)

While upgrading a project to Tailwind CSS v4, I forgot to remove the
`tailwindcss` import from the PostCSS config. As a result of this, I was
greeted with the following message:

```
node:internal/process/promises:289
            triggerUncaughtException(err, true /* fromPromise */);
            ^

[Failed to load PostCSS config: Failed to load PostCSS config (searchPath: /Users/philipp/dev/project): [TypeError] Invalid PostCSS Plugin found at: plugins[0]

(@/Users/philipp/dev/project/postcss.config.js)
TypeError: Invalid PostCSS Plugin found at: plugins[0]
```

I don't think this was particularly helpful, so I’m proposing we add a
default function export to the `tailwindcss` package so when it's used
inside PostCSS, we can control the error message. So I changed it to
something along these lines:

```
It looks like you're trying to use the \`tailwindcss\` package as a PostCSS plugin. This is no longer possible since Tailwind CSS v4.

If you want to continue to use Tailwind CSS with PostCSS, please install \`@tailwindcss/postcss\` and change your PostCSS config file.
    at w (/Users/philipp/dev/project/node_modules/tailwindcss/node_modules/tailwindcss/dist/lib.js:1:21233)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/philipp/dev/project/node_modules/tailwindcss/postcss.config.cjs:3:13)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1358:14)
    at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1416:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1208:32)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1024:12)
    at cjsLoader (node:internal/modules/esm/translators:348:17)
    at ModuleWrap.<anonymous> (node:internal/modules/esm/translators:297:7)
    at ModuleJob.run (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:222:25)
    at async ModuleLoader.import (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:316:24)
```

This is also a good place to link to the migration guides once we have
them 🙂

---------

Co-authored-by: Adam Wathan <[email protected]>

Author: philipp-spiess

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Make sure tuple theme values in JS configs take precedence over `@theme default` values ([#14359](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/14359))
 - Improve IntelliSense completions for `border` utilities ([#14370](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/14370))
 
+### Changed
+
+- Improve the error message when the `tailwindcss` package is used as a PostCSS plugin ([#14378](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/14378))
+
 ## [4.0.0-alpha.23] - 2024-09-05
 
 ### Added

integrations/postcss/core-as-postcss-plugin.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+import { expect } from 'vitest'
+import { css, js, json, test } from '../utils'
+
+const variantConfig = {
+  string: {
+    'postcss.config.js': js`
+      module.exports = {
+        plugins: {
+          tailwindcss: {},
+        },
+      }
+    `,
+  },
+  ESM: {
+    'postcss.config.mjs': js`
+      import tailwindcss from 'tailwindcss'
+      export default {
+        plugins: [tailwindcss()],
+      }
+    `,
+  },
+  CJS: {
+    'postcss.config.cjs': js`
+      let tailwindcss = require('tailwindcss')
+      module.exports = {
+        plugins: [tailwindcss()],
+      }
+    `,
+  },
+}
+
+for (let variant of Object.keys(variantConfig)) {
+  test(
+    `can not use \`tailwindcss\` as a postcss module (${variant})`,
+    {
+      fs: {
+        ...variantConfig[variant],
+        'package.json': json`
+          {
+            "dependencies": {
+              "postcss": "^8",
+              "postcss-cli": "^10",
+              "tailwindcss": "workspace:^"
+            }
+          }
+        `,
+        'src/index.css': css`@import 'tailwindcss';`,
+      },
+    },
+    async ({ exec }) => {
+      expect(
+        exec('pnpm postcss src/index.css --output dist/out.css', undefined, { ignoreStdErr: true }),
+      ).rejects.toThrowError(
+        `It looks like you're trying to use \`tailwindcss\` directly as a PostCSS plugin. The PostCSS plugin has moved to a separate package, so to continue using Tailwind CSS with PostCSS you'll need to install \`@tailwindcss/postcss\` and update your PostCSS configuration.`,
+      )
+    },
+  )
+}

integrations/utils.ts

@@ -23,14 +23,18 @@ interface ChildProcessOptions {
   cwd?: string
 }
 
+interface ExecOptions {
+  ignoreStdErr?: boolean
+}
+
 interface TestConfig {
   fs: {
     [filePath: string]: string
   }
 }
 interface TestContext {
   root: string
-  exec(command: string, options?: ChildProcessOptions): Promise<string>
+  exec(command: string, options?: ChildProcessOptions, execOptions?: ExecOptions): Promise<string>
   spawn(command: string, options?: ChildProcessOptions): Promise<SpawnedProcess>
   getFreePort(): Promise<number>
   fs: {
@@ -84,7 +88,11 @@ export function test(
 
       let context = {
         root,
-        async exec(command: string, childProcessOptions: ChildProcessOptions = {}) {
+        async exec(
+          command: string,
+          childProcessOptions: ChildProcessOptions = {},
+          execOptions: ExecOptions = {},
+        ) {
           let cwd = childProcessOptions.cwd ?? root
           if (debug && cwd !== root) {
             let relative = path.relative(root, cwd)
@@ -101,7 +109,7 @@ export function test(
               },
               (error, stdout, stderr) => {
                 if (error) {
-                  console.error(stderr)
+                  if (execOptions.ignoreStdErr !== true) console.error(stderr)
                   reject(error)
                 } else {
                   resolve(stdout.toString())

packages/tailwindcss/src/compat/colors.cts

@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 import colors from './colors.ts'
 
+// This file exists so that `colors.ts` can be written one time but be
+// compatible with both CJS and ESM. Without it we get a `.default` export when
+// using `require` in CJS.
+
 // @ts-ignore
 export = colors

packages/tailwindcss/src/compat/default-theme.cts

@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 import defaultTheme from './default-theme.ts'
 
+// This file exists so that `default-theme.ts` can be written one time but be
+// compatible with both CJS and ESM. Without it we get a `.default` export when
+// using `require` in CJS.
+
 // @ts-ignore
 export = defaultTheme

packages/tailwindcss/src/index.cts

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+import postcssPlugin, * as tailwindcss from './index.ts'
+
+// This file exists so that `index.ts` can be written one time but be
+// compatible with both CJS and ESM. Without it we get a `.default` export when
+// using `require` in CJS.
+
+for (let key in tailwindcss) {
+  if (key === 'default') continue
+  // @ts-ignore
+  postcssPlugin[key] = tailwindcss[key]
+}
+
+// @ts-ignore
+export = postcssPlugin

packages/tailwindcss/src/index.ts

@@ -498,3 +498,9 @@ function getVersion() {
     return version
   }
 }
+
+export default function postcssPluginWarning() {
+  throw new Error(
+    `It looks like you're trying to use \`tailwindcss\` directly as a PostCSS plugin. The PostCSS plugin has moved to a separate package, so to continue using Tailwind CSS with PostCSS you'll need to install \`@tailwindcss/postcss\` and update your PostCSS configuration.`,
+  )
+}

packages/tailwindcss/tsup.config.ts

@@ -1,19 +1,12 @@
 import { defineConfig } from 'tsup'
 
 export default defineConfig([
-  {
-    format: ['esm', 'cjs'],
-    minify: true,
-    dts: true,
-    entry: {
-      lib: 'src/index.ts',
-    },
-  },
   {
     format: ['esm'],
     minify: true,
     dts: true,
     entry: {
+      lib: 'src/index.ts',
       plugin: 'src/plugin.ts',
       colors: 'src/compat/colors.ts',
       'default-theme': 'src/compat/default-theme.ts',
@@ -25,6 +18,7 @@ export default defineConfig([
     dts: true,
     entry: {
       plugin: 'src/plugin.cts',
+      lib: 'src/index.cts',
       colors: 'src/compat/colors.cts',
       'default-theme': 'src/compat/default-theme.cts',
     },